More Birds

Two more birds to add to the list of Aerie visitors.

I was standing on the deck this evening when I got buzzed by a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the first of the year. The two feeders I put up are hanging there. After buzzing me, the little bird moved to the more distant of the two feeders and took a few sips before taking off for the trees.

As I followed its flight, an Eastern Phoebe came from around the corner of the house. It was almost as thought the Phoebe thought the Hummer might be a large bug. It pulled up when it got near the hummer and headed off in a different direction, landing on a nearby branch. It pumped its tail a couple of times and then took off into the woods hunting bugs in flight.

Aerie Report, Mid-day, August, 13, 2011

A quiet day at the Aerie. Terry has scooted off to an all day event (ANG or EGA?) up in New York state somewhere and will not be back until this evening. I'm kicking back reading, doing X-words and tending the cat herd.

The weather has been marvelous the last few days with highs only in the mid 70s and night time lows in the 50s. Grey clouds currently fill the sky but there is no immediate rain on the radar. This afternoon we may get a stray T-storm or two passing through the region. We could use the rain.

******

I had a female hummer impale herself on the screen door leading to the porch. She was probably trying to avoid a very territorial male and ran head on into the screen.(Do some birds need glasses?) Her stiletto bill pierced the screen and she hung there for a few seconds getting her bearings before managing to disengage. Left a tiny little hole of two broken threads at about eye level. (Mine, not Terry's. It was over her head.)

Speaking of hummers--I've seen five (three females and two males) trying to get gain exclusive feeding rights on the one feeder. They chase one another around like crazy. The females are a bit more tolerant with one another and there may be two sitting on the feeder at once, but the males.... They will chase any other hummer that dares to come feed or even investigate the possibility of feeding. They zoom around chasing "intruders" and darting just past your head so you instinctively duck. The whirring of wings and the little chirps as the females realize they are under attack remind me of the forest chase scene from one of the Star Wars movies in which two imperial land scooters (or whatever they were called) take off after Luke and Leia as they dodge between the trees on Endor. Makes be wonder if the folks writing that scene had hummers in their back yard.

******

Got fixed up with an appointment to see an orthopedist about my knee. August 24th was the earliest they could arrange for an appointment. In Corning, NY. The nearest facility in Troy (where I had the MRI done) would have been some time in September. I imagine that, with all the drilling and pipe laying going on in the area, there are a number of worker's comp cases being tended to and they take precedence over some damn fool who does damage to himself.

Considering the delay in seeing a specialist, I asked about some physical therapy and was told that could be arranged. The doctor would call the therapist and the therapist would call me to schedule an appointment. That was yesterday around noon. No call came back, so I've got to wait until at least Monday for the PT folks. Meanwhile, I've progressed from using the crutches to a cane and even walking without that extra support for short distances. (I'm still not going up and down the stairs Hell, by the time I get to see the orthopedist, I may be doing cartwheels. Which would be cool, 'cause I've never been able to do them before!

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

No, no pictures of them, but they are everywhere today. I've three feeders out and each is about 10 yards from the other. One is on the front porch, one on the side porch and the third is on the edge of the lawn. We've had 5 or 6 hummers for about a month now and I supposed the population bump was the result of fledglings joining mom and pop at the feeders along, perhaps with a few aunts and uncles. With today's cold temperatures and drizzly conditions, activity at the feeders has skyrocketed. Watching them zoom back and froth chasing one another from feeder to feeder and perch to perch can make you dizzy. There have to be far more than six little birds out there. At times there are five swarming about one feeder and, since it's impossible to see all three feeders at once, I'm sure there are more at the other feeders. Even when I have two feeders within my field of view and can clearly see six birds at once, there's a good chance there are more in the trees, on the telephone wire or at the third feeder I can't see.

I wonder if some of the activity isn't from new south-bound birds dropping by to get stoked up on sugar water. Perhaps they can hear the whir of their brothers' wings on a supersonic wavelength and home in on the sound expecting to find food nearby.

If it stays cool like this (the temp has dropped another degree to 56 degrees), they'll take the first burst of wind heading south and disappear. Last year all the hummers were gone by the end of September.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

I wonder, has anyone has ever been gored to death by a hummingbird?

I could ask by friend Joyce out there in Colorado on the Front Range just north of the Air Force Academy. Last time we visited her, she had 8 large hummingbird feeders arranged on her deck rail. Each had 6 or so feeding stations and every one of them had a waiting line. Yeah, she has a hummingbird infestation every summer that sees her go through several hundreds of pounds of sugar. And some of her little friends will land on your finger to sup.

Last year I was thrilled to have a pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds nesting somewhere nearby and visiting the feeders every day. There was one male and a female whom he would not allow to feed. He just kept chasing her away from the feeders every time he spotted her there. So I put up two more feeders to keep them separated. And it worked. They would feed maybe ten yards apart.

This summer started off the same way. One male staking out a territory and a female who seemed happy enough to mate and take orders. Then there was at least one more male and one more female as the feeders were supplemented by the wild bergamont, raspberries, blackberries, roses, and the perennials we planted.



With 7 or 8 little hummers in the yard, I've only managed to spot one adult male. The rest, like this one, are either females or young of the year that have not attained adult plumage yet.

This afternoon, I took my life in my hands and sat on the deck to watch the aerial display as humming birds zipped here and there chasing one another away from the feeders either in territorial fights or just for the heck of it. There were at least 7 or 8 zooming back and forth from the front deck to the woods; perching on the electrical wire or the hanging baskets; hovering a foot in front of my face; and chattering all the while. I got exhausted just watching them.



Several times I thought a bird flew so close that it went between my face and my eyeglasses. Or, barring that, in one ear and out the other.



Even when eating they keep the engine revved up.

Every now and then a truce would be declared and they would stop at the feeders to refuel.



Truce or no truce, a bird's got to be on the lookout for a sneak attack!

Soon the little guys and gals will need all the muscle they are building and energy they are storing as they will make one of the great migrations to the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and beyond to the Yucatan.

Hummers on their way south?

The winds have been blowing out of the north since last Thursday's front moved through and I think it may have spurred my local ruby-throated hummingbirds to start heading south. Last Thursday I had between 6 and 10 birds buzzing around the feeders as they lay into the sugar water to put on the fat for their fall migration to Central America. Today, after two nights when the temperatures dipped into the upper 40s, I haven't seen a one all morning. I'll continue to put the feeders out for the next few weeks just in case there's a straggler from further north who needs to gain a gram or so to make the 1500 o 1800 mile flight.

The black-capped chickadees and the red-breasted nuthatches are still doing a job on my sunflower seeds, however. But, then again, they will stay here all winter long.

UPDATE: To prove that I'm fallible, two hummers showed up about 12:30 PM. Perhaps they were just waiting for it to get a bit warmer. (The temperature has "risen" to 64 degrees.) Or, perhaps, these are from a bit further north and are merely passing through.